Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Whole Hog Butchering Class, Part 2

The first order of business for our subject was to remove the head. More under the fold.Scott used a boning knife to get through the tough skin and down to the neck bone.Then a student simply grabbed the hacksaw and cut the head off.They then hoisted the carcass up with their homemade tool, using the hamstrings to hold the carcass on. The hamstrings were pre-slit from the slaughterhouse as this is apparently how they go down the line. Then, basically, Scott just took that hacksaw and zipped it down the middle to produce two halves.With the insides exposed, Scott taught us where a lot of the cuts came from and also explained that there really isn't a "right" way to butcher a pig, just certain ways are more popular than others.Much more to come.

1 comment:

Mark
said...

Good for you. Most people have no idea where their food comes from. I was lucky enough to take a class in high school which took a half-hog to sausage, etc. We also processed several deer and chickens and slaughtered a steer (the teacher put it down, that was a tense moment).